Vegetable gardening!

[White Cedar]

5 hours ago, Frost of the Gloaming said:

One thing that worked well for us last year that we are going to do again is plant cucumbers by a fence, the vines grew up the fence which saved us a lot of ground room so that we were able to plant more plants

 

Trellising works so well for so many things. Jicama has 40 foot vines but you only eat the tuber so what to do with all the runaway vines? I'm going to try and train them over a high arch of chicken wire over some tomatoes. By the time it creates a canopy we will be in our blistering summer heat with crashing thunderstorms every afternoon. It might reduce the damage to the tomatoes. Just need it high enough to still walk under and have good air circulation. It's fun to play around and experiment.

 

[Fenyx]

 

Trellising works so well for so many things. Jicama has 40 foot vines but you only eat the tuber so what to do with all the runaway vines? I'm going to try and train them over a high arch of chicken wire over some tomatoes. By the time it creates a canopy we will be in our blistering summer heat with crashing thunderstorms every afternoon. It might reduce the damage to the tomatoes. Just need it high enough to still walk under and have good air circulation. It's fun to play around and experiment.

 

 

Yet another cool idea right there. I love seeing all the creativity here. It is truly inspiring some great ideas for whenever we aren't roaming anymore!

[White Cedar]

Houston, we have lift off! The broccoli seeds have all germinated and the cabbages and Brussel sprouts are just peaking out. Wahoo. And true to form, we had 80 degrees and then a frost this morning. Strange, strange, strange.

[Jord]

Clearly @RedStone and I had our gardening discussion in the wrong forum! LOL because this has really taken off. 

 

I'm planning my garden for this year, so I'm following along! I've written up my plan and figured out what seeds/plants I will need. I probably won't plant any seeds until late March/early April, unless the weather stays warm like it is. 

[White Cedar]

Spent the last two days transplanting seedlings to larger pots. Tomatoes are 6-8 inches high, as are the tomatillos. All the brassicas (cabbage, Brussel sprouts and broccoli) are showing some signs of calcium deficiency so I doctored that. We did the last till on the field garden and will hill it next week. Still eating cabbage, onions, greens, rat-tail radish, and jicama from last fall's garden.

 

Does anyone have spring bulbs showing? I do miss all the daffodils, tulips, crocus etc. in the spring. And totally miss the lilacs. We're just too warm here.

 

Cheers and green thumbs to all,

White Cedar

 

 

[Fenyx]

I have no bulbs, but my grape vines officially woke up and are stretching to meet the sun! My asparagus is also starting to flower, its grown so large it's now draped on the ground. Everything else is in full on growth mode!

[RevQu]

It's not bulb time yet here...we're expecting a snowstorm tomorrow! Lol.

 

Soooo jealous of you guys with growing things! I can't wait, I'm totally done with winter. DONE DONE DONE.

 

 

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[White Cedar]

3 minutes ago, Fenyx said:

grape vines officially woke up and are stretching to meet the sun

 

Isn't it just amazing to see the new growth in the spring! Such a positive reinforcement that life goes on.

[White Cedar]

3 minutes ago, RevQu said:

we're expecting a snowstorm tomorrow

 

Hunker down and bundle up. We'll all send "warm" thoughts.

 

 

[RevQu]

 

Hunker down and bundle up. We'll all send "warm" thoughts.

 

 

 

On the upside, the kids are on break this week and I work from home, so we don't have to go anywhere! I'm going to make chicken soup and we can play in snow and daydream about gardens.

 

 

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[Fenyx]

Now that sounds like an awesome plan

[Jord]

I don't have any bulbs but my green onions have survived the winter. The ones I planted from grocery store scraps.... 

[Bean Sidhe]

Hi all

 

Sorry I am new, but my daughter started the family gardening a few years ago with a sunflower and a paper cup. Now we mostly live out of the garden having pulled 250 lbs of tomatoes out of the garden one year.

My garlic has come up and is growing fast. The herb bed is waking up. The elderberry bushes are starting to get new leaves but I haven't checked the raspberries. I need to check the blueberry bushes as well. We have the tomato and pepper seedlings growing strong under the lamps. I need to start the cucumbers soon. But we had snow the last 2 days. I am hoping that is the end of it.

What is everyone else growing?

[Fenyx]

Hi all

 

Sorry I am new, but my daughter started the family gardening a few years ago with a sunflower and a paper cup. Now we mostly live out of the garden having pulled 250 lbs of tomatoes out of the garden one year.

 

My garlic has come up and is growing fast. The herb bed is waking up. The elderberry bushes are starting to get new leaves but I haven't checked the raspberries. I need to check the blueberry bushes as well. We have the tomato and pepper seedlings growing strong under the lamps. I need to start the cucumbers soon. But we had snow the last 2 days. I am hoping that is the end of it.

 

What is everyone else growing?

 

This is the dream right here! I've got two kinds of grapes, shallots, garlic, asparagus, and pineapple growing in the edibles section

[RevQu]

Hi all

 

Sorry I am new, but my daughter started the family gardening a few years ago with a sunflower and a paper cup. Now we mostly live out of the garden having pulled 250 lbs of tomatoes out of the garden one year.

 

My garlic has come up and is growing fast. The herb bed is waking up. The elderberry bushes are starting to get new leaves but I haven't checked the raspberries. I need to check the blueberry bushes as well. We have the tomato and pepper seedlings growing strong under the lamps. I need to start the cucumbers soon. But we had snow the last 2 days. I am hoping that is the end of it.

 

What is everyone else growing?

 

 

Sounds fantastic!!!

 

We're still in total winter here, lol. But will be growing lots and lots of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers. Peas and beans. Various lettuces and spinach. Broccoli and cauliflower. Carrots and onions. Leeks. Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. I'm super excited that I'll get my first asparagus crop this spring!

 

I want to grow potatoes for the first time this year. Should be interesting!

 

Welcome to the garden thread! Sounds like your garden has been doing great.

 

What's it like growing elderberries? I've heard they can be finicky.

 

 

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[Bean Sidhe]

2 hours ago, Fenyx said:

 

This is the dream right here! I've got two kinds of grapes, shallots, garlic, asparagus, and pineapple growing in the edibles section

I don't know if I would go the dream. My blueberries live in pots and only really produce enough for snacking. We finally put in a raspberry bed, but we just did that last year. The elderberries are 2 years old (and we made so much wine and cider and syrup from it), We don't have much room, most of our "garden" looks more like landscaping beds being 18" wide around the shed and the deck. The front yard has the herb bed where the previous owners had these nasty thorn bushes that we could never keep trimmed. The garlic lives in a couple of side beds and the Elderberries live in a side bed as well It is all easy to access (to a point) but it means keeping a close eye on it too so it doesn't get too unruly.

I am so jealous. You have pineapple and asparagus. The asparagus would grow here, but we don't want to commit that heavily to something if we may not be here that much longer. The pineapple would FREEZE here.

[Bean Sidhe]

1 hour ago, RevQu said:

We're still in total winter here, lol. But will be growing lots and lots of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers. Peas and beans. Various lettuces and spinach. Broccoli and cauliflower. Carrots and onions. Leeks. Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. I'm super excited that I'll get my first asparagus crop this spring!

 

I want to grow potatoes for the first time this year. Should be interesting!

 

Welcome to the garden thread! Sounds like your garden has been doing great.

 

What's it like growing elderberries? I've heard they can be finicky.

 

 

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Potatoes are fun, we do those in bags or bins so its easier to harvest. My Daughter loves the blue potatoes, but she calls them purple. We do quite a few of the things you listed, I just don't have most of those started yet since we can't plant anything outside until mid May. The tomatoes and peppers take FOREVER from seed, so they are coming along. We love the purple broccoli. I guess I should warn, we tend to do funny colored foods. My daughter likes to grow the weird ones, Tie-dye tomatoes, purple broccoli, multi-color carrots, violet sparkle peppers, 5 color peppers, purple peas, blue basil, geometric broccoli. My husband complains he can never tell when things are ripe.
 

I love strawberries but they too mostly live in pots. We did plant my daughter's (She bought it from the nursery with her own money") wild strawberries and they are planted under the elderberries. We planted them after their productive point last year, but they have spread out and are quite happy there. This will be our first year to see how they produce. The elderberries I have not had many problems with. The year we got them was horribly wet, and they got a little fungus but once it dried out, they were fine. Last year I think we got 8 lbs of berries off 2 bushes (With the local wildlife getting some). The biggest headache I can see so far with where we put them is they shoot out runners. This is a problem since they are in brick landscaped bed up about 6-10" from the rest of the ground. SO occasionally, I have to go pull out the runners from between the bricks. I didn't think that one through very well. We also have a lemon tree named Cave Johnson and a lime tree named Caroline. They are in pots as well and overwinter in the house. They don't do as well in the winter, but by mid-summer they recover fairly quickly.

I want blackberries. But we know we are not in our "forever" home, so we have quite a few things that are still moveable. I am jealous you have them. And you will have to tell me how the asparagus turns out. I am sure it will be delicious.

 

[Fenyx]

I don't know if I would go the dream. My blueberries live in pots and only really produce enough for snacking. We finally put in a raspberry bed, but we just did that last year. The elderberries are 2 years old (and we made so much wine and cider and syrup from it), We don't have much room, most of our "garden" looks more like landscaping beds being 18" wide around the shed and the deck. The front yard has the herb bed where the previous owners had these nasty thorn bushes that we could never keep trimmed. The garlic lives in a couple of side beds and the Elderberries live in a side bed as well It is all easy to access (to a point) but it means keeping a close eye on it too so it doesn't get too unruly.

 

I am so jealous. You have pineapple and asparagus. The asparagus would grow here, but we don't want to commit that heavily to something if we may not be here that much longer. The pineapple would FREEZE here.

 

My entire garden is a "mobile garden" because we travel a ton! Makes it much easier to keep them safe, and it allows for bringing the pineapple in when it's too cold, the others seem to do well enough in the chill. Though now I think they need to come in as someone managed to tag them with a weed whacker

[RevQu]

I'm not in my forever home either, but I did put some 'permanent' things in because it just brings me so much joy, lol

 

The asparagus I started from seed so it cost almost nothing, and I transplanted my berries from offshoots at our place up north and my friends cottage, haha. I can't bring myself to spend a lot of money on things when we wont be here forever, but they have been really fun to grow and enjoy while we're here

 

 

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[Bean Sidhe]

23 hours ago, Fenyx said:

 

My entire garden is a "mobile garden" because we travel a ton! Makes it much easier to keep them safe, and it allows for bringing the pineapple in when it's too cold, the others seem to do well enough in the chill. Though now I think they need to come in as someone managed to tag them with a weed whacker

Mobility has its perks. How did you start your pineapple. I am curious now since if its in a pot I could probably find room next to the lemon and lime trees...
I understand the weed whacker issue. My eldest recently took over the weed whacker duties, and fortunatly, he started when most of the garden was fairly mature, so nothing was harmed beyond repair. But we have a few "well there goes that bit of tomato plant" moments

 

1 hour ago, RevQu said:

I'm not in my forever home either, but I did put some 'permanent' things in because it just brings me so much joy, lol

 

The asparagus I started from seed so it cost almost nothing, and I transplanted my berries from offshoots at our place up north and my friends cottage, haha. I can't bring myself to spend a lot of money on things when we wont be here forever, but they have been really fun to grow and enjoy while we're here

 

 

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I know when we move, I am going to have to spend the year before taking cuttings of so many plants and making sure they become strong. We have a magnolia tree my parents gave us at our wedding that we have moved once (It was under 4ft tall at teh time) now its well over 12, so we can't take it with us. However, we plan to take cuttings and root them into new trees.

Same with the lilac bush I took from my grandmothers house. Its small now and might be moveable, but it depends on how happy it is and if I should just root some cuttings as well. I can't have just any lilac since that is a descendant of the lilac bushes my grandfather stole for my grandmother since they were pretty. (He just walked by it one day, though they was pretty, went back with a shovel and brought home some little ones that lived at my grandmothers house my whole life. I don't know if they are still here, we had to sell the house after she past). Its not the kind of bush that is important, but that it was HER bushes.

Heck, I will probably do the same with the elderberries too.

[Fenyx]

My original pineapple plant was from the top of a pineapple. Basically chop the top off, remove some of the leafy parts at the base, and let it dry out. Once it's nice and dry you can put it in water until roots start to shoot out nice and strong.

 

My current pineapple is from the second method of growing a pineapple plant. Once the plant is mature it will grow offshoots. Those can be twisted off at their base, from the primary plant, and popped into their own pot to start growing.

 

I end up putting them into full size pots so they can grow into them, mine can be fickle about changing out otherwise.

[Bean Sidhe]

3 hours ago, Fenyx said:

My original pineapple plant was from the top of a pineapple. Basically chop the top off, remove some of the leafy parts at the base, and let it dry out. Once it's nice and dry you can put it in water until roots start to shoot out nice and strong.

 

My current pineapple is from the second method of growing a pineapple plant. Once the plant is mature it will grow offshoots. Those can be twisted off at their base, from the primary plant, and popped into their own pot to start growing.

 

I end up putting them into full size pots so they can grow into them, mine can be fickle about changing out otherwise.

 

This sounds so easy. I will have to try it. Thank you for the information.

[Fenyx]

 

This sounds so easy. I will have to try it. Thank you for the information.

 

Absolutely! I've had them going for years now, though a recent run in with a dog has left me with one plant lol. Probably time to start more myself.

 

I recommend making sure they're. Or left outside if the temps get 40 or below, plenty of sun, and water well. I always tell my husband "drown it" when he waters it, if hat helps describe how much water it will take, but I generally only have to water two times a week or so? The pot drains very well, and the pineapple really soaks it up.

[Bean Sidhe]

On 3/17/2017 at 11:03 AM, Fenyx said:

 

Absolutely! I've had them going for years now, though a recent run in with a dog has left me with one plant lol. Probably time to start more myself.

 

I recommend making sure they're. Or left outside if the temps get 40 or below, plenty of sun, and water well. I always tell my husband "drown it" when he waters it, if hat helps describe how much water it will take, but I generally only have to water two times a week or so? The pot drains very well, and the pineapple really soaks it up.

 

Good to know. I hadn't even thought of caring for it besides "Start them" Lol. I will have to Try them.

[RevQu]

The pineapple sounds like fun!

 

 

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